The Houses Competiton
by Lumiellie
Summary: The stories Lumiellie submitted for the houses competition as a proud member of the Gryffindor team. This will start with round 6.
1. Chapter 1

Beginning in his first year as a staff member at Hogwarts, Severus Snape spent long nights wandering the halls of Hogwarts, looking for students who decided to sneak out of bed. The Potions professor would end up deducting points from students he didn't show favouritism towards. The houses of the perpetrators would usually end up with less points in the morning. No matter the situation, he would fearlessly deduct points from anyone who dare snuck out of their room. He showed favouritism towards all of the Slytherin students, that having been his own house while at Hogwarts. This meant he never deducted points from his own house.

The Potions Master always hesitated to take points away from kids who had red hair or green eyes, Those students reminded him of the one he had lost; Lily Potter nee Evans. In his fifth year of Hogwarts after being humiliated by Potter, Black, and the other two, he had accidentally insulted his love and ruined their friendship for good. Their friendship had been falling apart for a long time before that; he had been becoming more interested in the dark arts- but that insult was the final straw.

One night, he was aimlessly wandering around the hallways, wanting to do nothing more than to head into his chambers and sleep the entire night.

He couldn't just do that.

He just couldn't.

His sleep was forever plagued with nightmares of his lost love screaming. Lily's dead body haunted his once peaceful dreams. Even when his dreams weren't nightmares, he would still hear her voice reprimanding him for his actions. Students who looked closely at him would notice dark circles under his obsidian coloured eyes. He hated himself for becoming nothing more than a Death Eater.

Severus continued his journey down the hallway and within his field of vision he couldn't see any students. He was was glad for this, he wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone.

On the left side of the hallway, there was a door that was beckoning Snape to come into it. The Potions Professor wasn't sure he had seen it before. Something compelled him to open it up. He hesitated for a moment before choosing to go inside. Inside the room was a mirror. Severus walked up to it. Something in his gut told him to look into the mirror. Severus gazed into it and he saw the face of Lily. She smiled and waved at him.

Severus was taken aback by this; he never thought he would get to see that amazing face again. For a moment, in his mind he heard something.

"Severus, I forgive you."

House: Gryffindor

Category: Drabble

Prompts: Mirror of Erised

Word count: 441


	2. Despondence

"Lily, do you ever think that you're not good enough?" a weary Remus Lupin asked. The two third years were spending some leisure time in the Gryffindor common room while waiting for their friend, James Potter to return from a detention. He had received the detention from Filch after dumping a bunch of goo on top of Severus Snape's head.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked, wondering why the werewolf was asking her that. She had found out that the mild-tempered boy was a werewolf the previous year. He had been in the hospital wing while she was there. It had been the night after a full moon and there was Remus; covered in bites, scratches, and bruises that he had given himself. Lily had been in the hospital wing after catching pneumonia. She had been in the infirmary for three days and she was beginningto get better when she had seen the werewolf with several scars. Several conversations had ensued and Lily had exited the hospital wing knowing more about the scarred boy than she had before.

"I mean why do I even try? I have a debilitating illness and the odds of me getting a job are lower than Professor Binns retiring within the next fifty years. Lets just face it; I'm not ever going to be worth anything. I'm just despondent." Remus sighed, feeling dispirited with himself.

"You aren't afraid to embrace who you are Remus. I've seen you in class. You're willing to raise your hand for questions you know the answer to. You always help out the students who are having a rough time with concepts that are being taught. You care about those who are less fortunate than you, and you do that selflessly. I'm very appreciative of that,." Lily encouraged, wanting the werewolf to feel better about himself. He already suffered from dangerously low self-esteem and the red-haired girl wanted to change that.

"What will that matter in five years? In five years I'm likely to be homeless and a monster. I hate who I am. I wish I were anybody else!" Remus shouted, his voice growing louder with each word that he said. He didn't understand why Lily was trying to convince him that he was good enough. As far as he was concerned, he was never going to amount to anything.

Lily almost felt discouraged when he yelled at her. For a second, she considered heading up to the girls dorms and calling it a night. Why would you do that to him, Lily thought to herself, he's clearly disappointed with who he is. You need to make him feel proud of who he is, it's not fair that he can't love himself.

"Remus, I understand that you feel terrible about who you are. If I were in your situation, I would too. You're probably one of the strongest people that I have met." Lily softly encouraged, wanting the werewolf to believe her meaningful words.

"I guess you're right about that. I just don't understand why people care about me so much. I'm not even human. I'm a lycanthrope. I don't deserve their love. I'd rather be unloved than be loved and then be betrayed by someone I trusted. I just feel like a fragment of a fading song- probably the most insignificant thing you'll hear all day. Not only that, but as a fragment, you'll just forget me within a day or two. I feel so detached from who I really am, as though anything that happens around me won't impact me." Remus sighed, wishing Lily would just leave him alone. Never would he be good enough, as long as he was a werewolf, he would always be lower on the social hierarchy. There was nothing he would use to change this, there was no potion to lesson his condition, no spell to ease the pain, no hex to make him any less dangerous. Everyone around him always said werewolves were dangerous, but Remus knew he was more of a danger to himself than anyone else. The bruises and scratches were just a minimal sign of that.

"I sometimes feel like that too. It's hard to live in these times, there's a war brewing and I'm a muggleborn. I can get used to being called a "mudblood". You cannot get used to the pain of each transformation, the pain you feel when someone insults you. I'm proud of you Remus. You're so brave and though I may have never seen it first-hand, I know that if your friends were in danger, you would risk your life to save them. Like I said before, you're so compassionate and you would definitely make a good activist. Remus, you may hate yourself for being who you are and I understand it. But those words you say to yourself are just in your head. It may be hard for you to break free of that cycle, but you need to know that's only what you think of yourself, not what anyone else thinks of you. Everyone sees you as a strong, kind, intelligent, and compassionate young man. One day, you will believe that." Lily chirped, hoping that she would at least make the werewolf feel a little bit better about himself.

That was the day Remus realized that he was good enough.

 **I wrote this after failing a math test. This story practically wrote itself in my mind and I'm really proud of it.**

 **House: Gryffindor**

 **Category: Themed**

 **Prompts: Heart to Heart**

 **Words: 924**


	3. Safe and Sound

"What would it take to make you listen to me?" my inner voice rambled. Today had been a particularly rough day, ending with my father punching me in the face. Normally, the voice inside my head was cast aside, but my internal barrier was down. Ever since the summer break had started, the voice had been forcing its way into my life.

At first, I wanted nothing more than for the voice to fade away. But once I realized that wasn't happening, I grew more accepting of it. It was my only company for the summer. The pureblooded supremacists that are my parents wouldn't dare let me see my friends. If I did, I knew the consequences would be ruthlessly sadistic.

"I said, what would it take to make you listen to me. This place is no longer a home to you. Home is where you belong and this is clearly where you don't belong. You aren't safe here, Sirius. You aren't safe. Run away."

The voice was completely right. This hell was not where I belonged. My house- I mean my home- was at Hogwarts, where I hung out with James, Remus, and Peter. They were my best friends and they meant everything to me.

Downstairs, I could hear my parents discussing things. They were probably talking about how my brother Regulus is all perfect and how he's the ideal son. They were probably discussing how they thought I would be the perfect heir to the Black family. They were probably comparing me to Regulus; I didn't mind.

Better me than him.

I had always hoped he would be different. It had shattered me when he had been sorted into Slytherin because that's when I realized that he'd be just like my entire family.

Listening closer, I could hear my name amongst other murmurs. I heard a faint, "He needs to be ended. We can't let our family name be tarnished," from my mother and my heart began to pound inside of my chest. If she sounded like a murmur up here, she was probably shrieking downstairs. I didn't even know if she was talking about me. I hoped she wasn't

I normally didn't take anything that my mother said to heart. At least, not until now. She didn't usually threaten people with death. That's what scared me. My mother didn't make empty threats.

I realized that the voice in my head is right and I needed to listen to it. I needed to run away.

I grabbed my suitcase- the one I used for Hogwarts. Usually holding it in my hands filled me with intense hope, knowing that I'll be safe for another few months and I wouldn't have to deal with my family, but now it filled me with fear. I had hoped that I'd never had to run away.

That wasn't the case anymore.

I ransacked my drawers, grabbing almost all of my clothing and shoving it into my bag. I found my wand and added it to my bag when I heard my father clamoring up the stairs. I froze in one position. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest. _He's here to murder me. I should have run away when I had a chance. I should not have spent all that time gathering my belongings. I should have just run away when I had the chance,_ I thought to myself, knowing that I was unlikely to live to see another day.

My father opened the door, his eyes widening in disgust as he saw me there with a firm grip on my belongings. I heard him yell, "Crucio" and I felt intense pain crawling up my nerves. It felt as though someone had lit me on fire while attempting to break all of my bones. I fell down onto the floor and uncontrollably shook, all while my father stood there, laughing at me.

I couldn't stop screaming.

I just wanted to die. I would rather have died than have to have felt that pain a second longer. And just as suddenly as the pain had started, my father let up the curse and yelled, ''What would it take to make you listen to us? You're a disgrace to the Black family and I regret not drowning you as soon as you were born."

I grabbed my bag, trying to extract my wand. I needed to survive. I couldn't die now, though I wanted to. My father kicked me in the arm, shattering the bone. I bit my lip, preventing myself from screaming. That didn't prevent me from drawing blood. He kicked me in the ribs but I don't realize the pain at first.

It took me a minute to realize that I was floating through the air, that I was no longer being tortured. I landed in an unfamiliar place that somehow I recognized, the face of Mrs. Potter looking at me.

I cringed at the thought of James seeing me like this but thought of how he would care for Remus after a transformation. Mrs. Potter called James down. I saw him running towards me. My pain rushed through me and tears formed in my eyes. I couldn't breathe right.

"Padfoot, what happened?" James asked.

"My family….they were going to kill me," I barely managed to rasp.

"Don't worry Padfoot. They'll never get you now. You're safe here. Safe and sound."

 **House: Gryffindor**

 **Category: Drabble**

 **Prompts: "What will it take to make you listen to me?"**

 **Word count: 900**


	4. Death and Diversion (Part 1)

**WARNINGS: This story has attempted suicide in it.**

His heart pounded in his head, his scarred hands grasping the bar that kept him from tumbling over the edge. Except he wasn't afraid to fall over the edge of the Ravenclaw tower. If the gravity were to shift, he wouldn't be scared. Dying was better than living through his current situation.

Remus always reassured himself that it wasn't his fault that he's a werewolf. That fact used to be what kept him going through each day. His friends had always been there for him when he had felt shitty. They technically were still there for him, but he wouldn't go, couldn't go back to them after what had happened. He definitely couldn't go back to Sirius, his former boyfriend. That boy he thought he had loved.

Sirius was the one who ruined his life. The dog animagus just had to tell Snape about the Whomping Willow and how to evade it. The rest was history, ending with the werewolf population increasing.

Remus couldn't control himself while he was a werewolf. It wasn't for a lack of trying. He could see all of the damage the wolf within him caused, but he could truly never fix it. When he saw the wolf aim for Snape, he tried his best to regain control, but the taste of blood soon exploded in his mouth and he saw that he had attacked the Slytherin.

He had just converted someone else into a werewolf.

He was certain his life was going to end. There was no place for werewolves in the wizarding world and to live in the muggle world would mean death and devastation. But Remus knew he would never get a chance to live in the muggle world, for a werewolf to bite another wizard meant execution. Dumbledore would probably be in deep shit over letting a werewolf attend the school. Severus Snape, potions prodigy, would never get a career and live a life of depression and poverty, all because Remus had bitten him. James, Sirius, and Peter would hopefully live in constant guilt.

Remus was only fifteen and his life was already over.

The crisp winter bit into Remus's arms as a singular tear rolled down his cheek. There was nothing the werewolf wanted more than to die. There was nothing left to live for. He jumped over the bar. Remus took one last look at the world around him, hoping the beautiful landscape would be the last thing he ever saw. Preparing to jump, Remus inhaled...

Sirius Black knew there was something wrong the moment he entered his dormitory room after Defense Against the Dark Arts. For the past five days, his boyfriend, Remus, had been laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, but now the werewolf had moved and Sirius knew that he had not been attending classes.

For days, Sirius had been trying to talk to the werewolf, yet the werewolf refused to look at him. Whenever Remus did look at him, his face was contorted into a frown, signaling anger that hid deep within. His boyfriend wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, and he wouldn't cry. The werewolf would just lay on his bed, emotionless, as if he were constantly lost within his own mind.

Sirius could understand why Remus was so upset after biting someone. Who would want to pass such a terrible curse onto someone, knowing the pain that it caused themselves? Well, at least someone decent. Sirius couldn't understand why Remus was so upset after biting Snivellus. The werewolf had never wanted to bite someone, but come on. It was Snivellus. Who even cared about Snivellus? The greasy git wouldn't be leading a fruitful life anyways.

After looking around the dorm room, Sirius noticed a white slip of parchment on his bed with writing on it. Sirius approached his bed, picking up the parchment and began reading it.

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _I know you never loved me. I'm not even sure if you ever wanted to be my friend. Thanks to you, I ended up converting Snape into a werewolf and if the ministry finds out about this, I'll be suffering a fate that is nothing except death. I should never have been allowed to attend this amazing school. Professor Dumbledore should never have considered letting me study here._

 _You and James used to be my best friends. Well, you used to be, until that prank you pulled on Snape. DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS? DID YOU THINK YOU'D JUST MAKE SNAPE SCARED AND THEN HE'LL NEVER BOTHER US AGAIN? I never agreed with your bullying of Severus- I always wanted to stand up for him. The only thing that held me back was fear. I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be my friend because "I stood up for poor Snivellus" or "I dared break an unofficial tradition" we had within our friend group._

 _Anyway, I guess this is goodbye. Back when James, Peter, and you were my friends, my life was amazing. My childhood had been full of sickness, chronic pain, and loneliness, but you guys induced feelings of optimism. For once, I was actually happy._

 _I never thought I'd end up biting someone and knowing that it was caused by my best group of friends. It's your fault, Sirius. You told him about the willow. You risked my life and his. I never thought you would be this way._

 _I'm deciding to take control of my own life. It's the end of my life. I'm nothing more than a criminal. I don't deserve to live anymore. Snape, no matter how bad you think he is, never deserved to be bitten by me._

 _I don't have any qualms about ending my life. I'm sorry._

 _Yours Truly,_

 _Remus Lupin_

By the time Sirius finished reading the letter, he was in tears. ' _Remus, I never wanted this to be the end. You don't understand. I just wanted to prank Snape,'_ Sirius thought to himself. ' _The three of us never wanted you to suffer.'_

Dropping the letter, Sirius ran out of the dorm room and into the common room. Within the letter, there had been a hint, a clue to where the depressed werewolf would end his life. He raced out of the common room and down the hallways, occasionally bumping into a first year. At last, he reached the Ravenclaw tower and climbed up to the top of the staircase, panting. Remus was standing outside in the crisp night air as if he were ready to take flight.

House: Gryffindor

Category: Short Story

Prompts: Remus Lupin (Character)

Word count: 1089


	5. Death and Diversion (Part 2)

"Remus, what do you think you're doing?" Sirius asked.

Remus turned around and looked into the eyes of his distraught friend who looked like he had run five miles. Scowling, he replied, "I'm doing what I have to do, Sirius. I'm ending this life so the ministry doesn't have to." The werewolf sighed and looked at his former boyfriend.

"You have three seconds to come back here or I will force you here. There are three reasons you shouldn't kill yourself. Three, I don't care, that you're a werewolf. The ministry won't kill you. You can say that Snape bit you. "

"Why should I listen to the person who ruined my life? Is there any point to doing that? I thought I could trust you."

"You can trust me!"

"Then why did you prank Snape like that? Did you not think about the consequences. Did you just decide, "'Oh, I'm going to prank Snape and make him piss himself after seeing my boyfriend as a dangerous creature. There's absolutely no way that this plan can possibly fire. There's absolutely no way that my best friend will end up biting the person that I'm pranking?' Well, guess what Sirius? Your plan BACKFIRED!"

"I didn't want it to, I mean it Remus!"

"Well thanks to you, I'm now a criminal!"

Sirius couldn't deny that Remus was a criminal. The werewolf had bitten someone, breaking one of the most ancient laws against werewolves. The laws were never fair, but they were meant to never be broken, leading to death for the crime instigator.

"Two, I'm not going to deny that you're a criminal-" Sirius looked at Remus with a sad look in his eyes. The werewolf looked to be about to jump.

"Well thanks for boosting my self-esteem, Sirius." Remus said as he tumbled off the tower. Time seemed to freeze for Sirius. It seemed that every second took decades to pass. The next thing Sirius did was pull out his wand and yell, "One, I love you. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"

Remus heard Sirius yell a spell that was so familiar and yet so vague. He didn't mind, as long as it sped up the process of his death. When he felt his body jerking upwards, Remus looked and saw that Sirius had used a basic first year spell to save his life. _It's like some random first year came here and decided to save my life,_ Remus thought to himself. He tried to struggle against the constraints of the spell, but it was no use and he went limp.

Sirius concentrated on the spell, using all of his focus to slowly levitate the body of his boyfriend. He was rewarded when he saw Remus come up over the bar. When Remus was safe on the tower, Sirius stopped the spell and took Remus in his arms, cradling the fragile body of his broken boyfriend. "Don't you ever try that again."

"Let go of me! It's for your own good! You never loved me!" Remus kicked, struggling to get out of the arms of his protective boyfriend. This was to no avail as Sirius held him closer. "I mean it, Sirius! Let go of me now! It will mean less pain in the future!"

"Remus, I never wanted you to end your life. I admit that I never thought about the consequences of the prank. I only thought about how badly I wanted to prank Snape and I never thought how it would hurt you. I don't deserve someone as amazing as you. You'll probably never forgive me, but that's okay. I just don't want you to end your life tonight. Hopefully the laws will change. Someone ought to invent a potion to stop your transformations. You mauled Snape, now didn't you? He's a potions prodigy! He'll be motivated to find a cure for this. Things will get better." Sirius rambled, feeling the struggle of his boyfriend in his arms.

Laying in the arms of his boyfriend, staring at the starry night sky, and feeling that he was finally at peace, Remus closed his eyes, finally convinced that things will get better.

House: Gryffindor

Category: Themed

Prompt: You have three seconds. 3,2,1.

Words: 689


	6. Boggarts

Remus Lupin feared the moon. He feared it in its fullest state, the light of the moon transforming him into someone else. He also hated what it represented, every single time he saw the moon, he was reminded of what it represented. His lycanthropy. Though many teenage, muggle fan girls desired to be a werewolf, it was worse than perceived.

This specific flaw prevented Remus Lupin from ever keeping a job. He constantly took jobs that were below his skill level, in fear that someone would find out who he was. His house was located in one of the poorest parts of London. His muggle neighbours had noise complaints during the full moon, due to the growls of the werewolf. The muggle police had come over a few times and had told him to shut up, without knowing his desparate situation.

Ever since the deaths of James and Lily, he had been living in constant despair. Even more so, after finding out his best friend, Sirius Black was a traitor and was responsible for their deaths. Ever since James and Lily suspected a traitor, he was cast aside. As though his lycanthropy made him automatically evil.

He was glad that Dumbledore had taken pity on him and given him a job at Hogwarts. This enlightened him, he had never had a chance to shine like this! Beforehand, he planned out all of his lessons, planning one on boggarts. Dumbledore has informed him that the last two teachers of that subject were rather incompetent, making the students have a gap in their learning.

Yet Remus doubted himself. He knew he wouldn't last long, and he wanted to make his impact. His education plan includes learning about dark creatures and how to defeat them.

That night, Remus went to bed. He opened up his cupboard and saw something transform into a full moon within a split second. His heart pounded in his skull and Remus was once again reminded that he in fact, was a werewolf.

Quickly banishing the boggart away, Remus felt a tear slowly fall from his hazel eyes. Why did he take this job in the first place? He was just going to mess it up and bite someone. He almost converted Snape into a werewolf in his fifth year.

Remus found himself standing outside Dumbledore's office, preparing to resign. He didn't want to bite a student. He wasn't good enough. He thought he was hallucinating when he heard familiar a slithering organ voice, "I have a potion for the wolf. He'll still transform but he'll keep his human mind. This won't make him a threat."

The door opened, almost as if Dumbledore were expecting him and Remus walked in, meeting Snape and Dumbledore. "Welcome Remus. I'm going to make this as brief as possible, but Severus Snape has figured out a potion that will enable you to keep your human mind while your body transforms. This is the perfect opportunity for you to prove yourself." Dumbledore wisely said.

Yet, when the boggart transformed into the full moon, he knew he had lost that chance.

House: Gryffindor

Category: Drabble

Words: 524

Prompt: Boggarts


	7. Death in its Most Hideous Form

Lily Evans had found the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL quite easy. She was known for being a student who took her studies seriously, unlike some other students. And unlike other Hogwarts pupils, she was friends with Severus Snape. It was undeniable that their friendship was falling apart, but she cared deeply for the Slytherin. She detested Avery and Mulciber, especially after that prank they played on Mary. That wasn't fair at all and the fact that Severus thought that it was a good laugh broke her heart.

She couldn't help but wonder if she would have turned out the same, had she ended up in Slytherin.

Lily shook her head, freeing up the thoughts in her head. Marlene McKinnon ran up to her, panting and asked, "How do you think you did?"

"I think I did pretty good," Lily responded, "What about you?"

"I think I did pretty good, but I couldn't remember the spell that freezes people. Anyways I'm going to talk to Emmeline, see you!" After saying that, Marlene ran off to join Mary McDonald and Emmeline Vance. Lily smiled, and turned to the doors of Hogwarts and where you could see the lake.

Lily walked out of the school and felt the cool air on her face. She planned on talking to Severus and seeing if the two of them could study together for their transfigurations exam was tomorrow. Lily knew that she'd studied for this one exam quite a bit, but she wanted to be prepared. In the distance, she could see the school's population scattered and dispersed among the lawn, and Severus sitting up against a tree. James Potter and his gang were approaching him and she saw him fly twelve feet backwards.

Lily ran up towards the gang and the gathering of people and yelled, "Leave him ALONE!" noticing the pink bubbles gagging Severus. The boy looked to be choking on them, and yet they didn't stop. The only response was from James whose hand moved up to his hair.

"All right Evans?"

Lily stared into the hazel eyes of James and repeated herself, disliking the mature voice he used with her. "Leave him alone!" Lily repeated, "What's he ever done to you?"

James looked up at the sky, rolling his eyes, "Well it's more of the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean..."

Lily was appalled to see the students around her laugh. James was smiling widely. "You think you're funny," she said coldly, "but you're just an arrogant toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."

James immediately responded with," I will if you go out with me, Evans." No matter what Lily said, he was going to prank Snape. His hatred for the greasy-haired kid was too much.

"I wouldn't go out with you if there was a choice between you and the giant squid."

Within the background, Sirius said, "Bad luck Prongs."

The curse was wearing off of Snape and he had managed to grab his wand by slowly inching forward. He directed his wand straight at James and a gash appeared.

Then there was a flash of light. Snape was now upside down, his robes falling down, revealing pale, and borderline skinny legs. Everyone else seemed to cheer. There was most likely a unanimous decision on how people saw Snape.

Lily was furious. She couldn't stand to watch this anymore, yet she didn't want to be the one that was targeted. She yelled, "Let him down!"

James said, "Certainly," and Snape fell down onto the ground.

There was a loud cracking noise that made Lily jump. Snape had landed on his head and now he was laying on the ground in a loose fetal position, slightly dazed. "My legs, I can't bloody feel my legs!" Snape yelled, fear evident in his voice. The laughter abruptly stopped.

Lily ignored Severus for a couple of seconds, boldly walking up to James and punching him in the nose, hearing a satisfying crunch. James winced, blood pouring out of his nose. "Evans, what did you do that for?"

"You HURT Severus! HE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO WALK AGAIN! YOU'RE SO ARROGANT AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN YOU'VE TAKEN THINGS TOO FAR!" Lily yelled, kicking James in the groin. He staggered back, wincing in pain. Sirius grabbed his friend, but Lily grabbed Sirius's shoulder and dramatically turned him around, "You're NO better than James is. You should know not to DO that! What makes you think that you can just hurt him and treat him like nothing more than garbage."

Lily kicked Sirius in the groin, ignoring the tumble he took and rushed over to Severus whose eyes had tears in them. The crowd around them had begun to disperse, and only a few remained, one of those people being Remus. "Lily, how can I help?"

"Get someone! Anyone! He needs help! Now!"

Snape felt an intense pain in his skull as he watched Remus run off to get someone. His eyes were overtaken by a white curtain and he felt unconsciousness slowly take over his body. "Thank you," he whispered as he drifted away.

Lily on the other hand, watched as Snape became unconscious. Tears welled up in her eyes, Snape didn't deserve this AT ALL. She grabbed his hand and prepared to face what was next.

That night, Lily was sitting in the Great Hall, picking at her spaghetti. James Potter was sending her hopeful glances, but she kept sending dirty looks in his direction.

She found herself unable to stomach any food. Her thoughts kept drifting towards the fact that Severus had told her that he couldn't feel his legs. Back before she knew about muggles, there had been a story in the newspaper. about a young boy who had been in a bicycle accident. That boy noted that he couldn't feel his legs. The young child ended up not being able to walk again, despite the best efforts of the nurses.

Remus was heading to the Great Hall a few hours after getting help for Severus. Madam Pomfrey had thanked him and she had said something about a spinal cord injury. Remus knew that nerve controlled all of the motions of the limbs and an injury to that nerve was absolutely fatal.

The reason he was coming to the Great hall was because Pomfrey had told him to get Lily. Severus' condition was progressively getting worse and she wasn't sure if the boy was going to live through the night. She was constantly tending to the boy, and she feared that if she left the boy, he would die.

Remus had gone to the infirmary to pick up a pepper-up potion. He felt absolutely terrible, the full moon was in three days, two days before leaving Hogwarts. Pomfrey was tending to Severus fearfully, and hollered at Remus to tell Lily to come to Severus, knowing about the friendship between the two.

"Hey Lily," The red haired girl looked up to see Remus, who looked rather guilty, "You need to go the the infirmary. Pomfrey doesn't think Severus will make it through the night."

At first, Lily was in shock. The words of Remus just passed through her. It took her half a minute to process what Remus just said and the tears welled up in her eyes. "He's dying?" She asked, sniffling.

"I'd hope not," Remus said, putting a hand across Lily's back, trying to comfort the sobbing girl. He felt a surge of anger rush through him at the thought of his so-called "friends".

The two of them headed into the infirmary. Remus opened up the door and Lily ran inside, searching for the bed that Severus was lying on. After finding the bed, she knelt down and cried. "I'm glad someone cares about him. His mother died last year and I suspect that his father is emotionally and physically abusive." Madame Pomfrey said.

Lily thought to herself, "I should have offered to go out with James. He wouldn't have pranked Snape, injuring him like this and crippling him forever. Maybe if I hadn't talked to him like the way I did. I shouldn't have treated him terribly with my insults and my best friend wouldn't have been injured. Maybe he'd be right here with me."

"Lily, he's dead." Remus whispered.

Lily, who had fallen asleep in the chair next to Severus's bed, woke up. The tears flooded her eyes and she saw Severus's body. Mostly she felt upset, but she felt a slight twinge of resentment at Madame Pomfrey. "Why didn't you do any more for him? You should have taken him to Saint Mungo's. There was so much you could have done, yet you did nothing!" Lily yelled, tears welling up in her eyes.

Madame Pomfrey sighed and responded to Lily, "He had no chance at living. He had his neck broken in two places, among the third cervical vertebrae and the fifth. He had severe brain swelling that best nurses wouldn't have been able to deal with. Even if he did live, he wouldn't have been the same person. He would have had a hard functioning as a human being. He wouldn't have the ability to walk, nor would he be able to move any limbs. He probably wouldn't have been able to breathe on his own."

Lily, who was sitting next to the bed that Severus was laying in and grasped his hand, surprised at how cold it felt. She had hoped that it would be warm, just for another sign of life, but it was cold. "I should have done more to save you. I should have attacked James or offered to go out with him. I should have attacked him and prevented him from pranking you. There was so much more that I could have done, yet I didn't do any of it. I'm sorry."

House: Gryffindor

Category: Short Story

Prompt: Guilt

Words: 1693


	8. Broken Beautiful

**Bulimia warning.**

She was jealous of all the other girls at Hogwarts who seemed to have everyone like them. She was jealous of all the girls who were attractive and could make any boy swoon. All the other girls seemed to be able to be perfect, and here she was, far from it. This angered her to the point where it made her feel physically ill.

All the other Slytherin females had the perfect boyfriend, and she couldn't even get Vincent Crabbe to go out with her.

Pansy was undeniably the leader of her group of female, fifth year Slytherins. She truly took pride in this and wasn't afraid to shove it into other people's faces. Any boy she wanted, she was able to get. One afternoon, after nearly failing her potion, and getting reprimanded by her head of house, Millicent ran up to Pansy.

Pansy looked at Millicent with huge chocolate eyes. The girl was panting after running up to her. "Yes Millie?" Pansy said in a soft voice.

Millicent wasn't able to keep it in anymore and felt herself asking, "How are you so attractive and perfect. I mean practically everyone swoons over you, even some girls. Haven't you seen the Weasley girl? She looks at you with lust in her eyes, practically drooling."

Pansy chuckled and said, "I know. There's just a secret that I have to tell you. Follow me. No one else can know."

Pansy lead Millicent, running effortless down the hallway, ending up at a broom closet, which was currently purposeless. Opening up the door, which creaked upon arrival, the two girls went inside. "First of all, you need to stop eating so much. Don't you see how heavy you are? Boys don't want girls that are heavy, and the lighter you are, the better." Pansy advised, "You also need to lose at least three stone. Trust me on that one."

Millicent nodded, taking mental note of this advice and sighing. "Whenever you find that you've eaten too much, just stick a finger down your throat. That will make you vomit, which means that the food you have just eaten won't make you fat."

The two girls left the closet, heading to their next classes, where Millicent was prepared to put her new plan into action. Normally, she would sneak food into class and snack on it while the teacher was talking, but she ran down to the dungeons, emptying her bag onto her bed, removing all traces of food from her bag. She was determined to be beautiful like Pansy. While she was doing this, her cat meowed, wondering what the Slytherin was doing.

Millicent ignored this and headed up to her next class, Transfigurations, when she realized she was late. She mentally reprimanded herself as she headed into class.

Millicent kneeled over the toilet as she stuck her finger down her throat. Against her will, she had eaten three helpings at dinner, while noticing that Pansy barely finished her minimal helping herself. It had been a month since she started doing this, and she was sure that she had at least lost half of a stone. Sure, she was hungry all of the time, but she was certain that people were beginning to look at her in a new light.

"Goodbye old self. I'm glad you're not around anymore to hold me down. Now that you're gone, I can now be beautiful once again. Goodbye chubby thighs. Goodbye greasy hair. Goodbye fat stomach. Hello new me. Past self, get ready to be jealous of the new and improved Millicent Bulstrode!" Millicent whispered as she flushed her stomach's contents down the toilet.

Millicent left the bathroom with a large smile on her face.

House: Gryffindor

Category: Themed

Prompt: Jealousy

Words: 632


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